1. Field of the Invention
The present technology relates to oil and gas wells. In particular, the present technology relates to control of downhole valves and equipment using infrasonic waves in oil and gas wells.
2. Description of the Related Art
The production of oil and gas wells typically requires the use of various valves and other downhole equipment. For example, an inflow control valve (ICV) assembly can be inserted into the well bore, and can include an inflow valve 23 that regulates the flow of fluid through the bore. The communication of commands from an operator at the surface to such valves and other downhole equipment is important to production control of the well.
One way to communicate with downhole valves and other equipment is through a physical connection, such as wires. Such wires can be inserted into the hole along with, for example, an ICV assembly, and can be connected to the inflow valve 23. When the ICV assembly is in place in the well, an operator on the surface can then send opening and closing commands to the inflow valve 23 to regulate production. One problem with the use of wires, however, is the difficulty of running them into the well without tangling or breaking the wires. This can be especially problematic in multilateral wells, where lateral bores can be diverging from the motherbore in different directions, and each lateral bore can have its own ICV assembly.
In an attempt to avoid the problems of running wires into the well, some operators have employed wireless communication systems to communicate with downhole valves and other equipment. Many of these wireless communication systems use time pulsed waves at common communication frequencies to communicate commands to the valves. One problem with such systems, however, is that such common communication frequency bands have a very limited range, and are ineffective at communicating over long distances downhole. This range problem can be exacerbated by the nature of the fluids in a wellbore, many of which have high salinity and can be dense.